Nokia Lumia 520: A Specifications Review

A curious development is afoot at Nokia. Having to compete with low-cost manufacturers and low-end Android phones, the company has had to make some changes in the way it positions its Windows Phone 8 smartphones too. Nokia’s solution, it would seem, is to launch a Lumia smartphone running Windows Phone 8 for every budget. And the result is the Lumia 520, a smartphone that defines the low-end category for Windows Phone 8. The 520 comes as a replacement for the Lumia 510, which was only launched last October. The Lumia 520, which was announced at the Mobile World Congress on Monday, is now the most affordable WP8 handset out there and is priced at $180 (approx Rs 9500). That should immediately get the attention of users looking for a complete smartphone experience without exchanging big bucks for it.  However, it doesn’t have any direct competition at this price point, so drawing a comparison with another handset is hard. The Lumia 520 isn’t going to win any specification battles any time soon, but it looks like a decent phone on paper. Here’s a breakdown of the key specifications of the phone. OS – Windows Phone 8On the software side of things, it’s heartening to see Windows Phone 8 in a low-end handset. Windows Phone 8 brings many changes to the OS, including a more impactful Start Screen with more information available at a glance. As we have seen, the new features do not add any lag to the experience. There is a clear focus on making the OS easy to use and quick to operate. The Windows Phone app store is also seeing a slight improvement in terms of the number of apps; Microsoft is making the OS more developer-friendly with the launch of the Windows Phone Dev Centre and its associated app, which allows app makers to track downloads, crashes and receive feedback on their Windows Phone handset itself.Click here for full story